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Crazy Rich Asians (film)
| screenplay = | story = | based on = | starring = | music = Brian Tyler | cinematography = Vanja Cernjul | editing = Myron Kerstein | studio = | distributor = Warner Bros. Pictures | released = | runtime = 120 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = $30 million | gross = $34.7 million }} Crazy Rich Asians is a 2018 American romantic comedy-drama film based on Kevin Kwan's novel of the same name. Produced by Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson of Color Force, it is directed by Jon M. Chu. The film stars Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Gemma Chan, Awkwafina, Nico Santos, Lisa Lu, Ken Jeong, and Michelle Yeoh, and follows a young Asian American woman who travels to meet her boyfriend's family, only to find them to be among the richest in Singapore. Crazy Rich Asians was released in the United States on August 15, 2018, by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is the first film by a major Hollywood studio to feature an all-Asian cast since 1993's The Joy Luck Club. The film has grossed over $34 million worldwide and received positive reviews from critics, who praised the performances and production design. Plot Rachel Chu, an economics professor at New York University (NYU), is asked by her boyfriend Nick Young, a history professor at NYU, to accompany him to Singapore, where he is to be the best man at his best friend's wedding and where he will also introduce her to his family. Rachel accepts and her mother tells her that going to Singapore might mean that Nick is ready to propose. Meanwhile, gossip personality Radio1Asia catches wind of their relationship, exposes it worldwide where it eventually reaches Nick's mother Eleanor. At Kennedy International Airport, Rachel is shocked to learn that Nick has upgraded their tickets to first class. When she asks him about his family, he casually tries to brush it off, but eventually reveals he is part of a family of wealthy real estate developers. In Singapore, Rachel meets Nick's best friend Colin and his fiancée Araminta Lee. The two couples spend the night eating street food, leaving Rachel more confident about meeting Nick's family. The following day she plans to meet up with Goh Peik Lin, her roommate from college, before meeting Nick's family at Nick's mansion. Rachel is surprised to realize that Peik Lin is incredibly wealthy and lives in a large mansion covered in gold. While she is chatting to the Goh family they discover that her boyfriend is Nick Young leading Peik Lin to give her a makeover before driving her to the Young family home. Rather than going to an intimate family dinner, Rachel is brought to a large party where everyone is already aware of her. Rachel makes several awkward faux pas, including mistaking Nick's nanny for his grandmother and spilling wine on Nick. She also briefly meets Nick's mother, Eleanor, and quickly realizes that Eleanor dislikes her. Fortunately Rachel makes a good impression on Nick's grandmother who invites her back to the family home to make dumplings. Meanwhile Nick and Colin have been whisked away to a party barge. Neither one of them enjoys the party so Nick steals a helicopter and brings Colin to a remote location to drink beer and relax. Nick confesses to Colin that he is ready to propose to Rachel; though Colin is happy for him, he also expresses skepticism that their marriage will be accepted, as he worries that Rachel's Chinese American background will make it difficult for her to adapt. Rachel wants to return home, but Peik Lin convinces her to call Eleanor's bluff and go to Araminta and Colin's wedding. Rachel allows Peik Lin to lend her a dress and attends the wedding where she makes a good impression on everyone. On the way to the wedding, Astrid tells her husband she knows he is cheating on her and they break up. At the reception, Rachel and Nick seem more in love than ever, but they are called away to Nick's grandmother who forbids their relationship as Eleanor reveals that she hired a private investigator to look into Rachel's past. Rachel had always believed her father died when she was young, but learns that she was actually the child of her mother and a man who was not her husband. Devastated, Rachel runs away and Nick chases after her, even though his grandmother threatens to cut him off from the family. Rachel requests to see Eleanor and the two meet at a mahjong parlour and converse over a game. Rachel tells Eleanor that Nick proposed but she turned him down as she did not want him to lose his family. She also tells her that when Eleanor finally finds a woman worthy of Nick she should remember that the marriage and Eleanor's subsequent grandchildren will have been possible because of a poor nobody like Rachel. In the mahjong game, Rachel discards a tile which Eleanor immediately draws to make up a winning hand; Rachel then reveals her own hand which would have been a winning one if she had kept the discarded piece. Rachel and her mother leave for home on an economy flight. Before the plane can depart, Nick arrives and begs Rachel to marry him. Rachel is about to refuse him again when he shows her the ring. Rather than the diamond ring he initially proposed with, it is Eleanor's emerald engagement ring. Rachel accepts and Nick begs her to stay in Singapore one more day. Rachel and Nick go to an engagement party filled with well-wishers. Among the celebrants she sees Eleanor and the two give each other a nod of recognition. In a mid-credit scene, Astrid exchanges furtive glances with a mysterious handsome gentleman at the engagement party, who turns out to be an old boyfriend, Charlie Wu (Harry Shum Jr.). Cast * Constance Wu as Rachel Chu, Nick’s longtime girlfriend and Kerry’s daughter * Henry Golding as Nick Young, Rachel's longtime boyfriend and Phillip and Eleanor's son * Gemma Chan as Astrid Leong-Teo, Nick's cousin, Charlie's ex-fiancée and Michael's wife * Awkwafina as Goh Peik Lin, Rachel's Singaporean college best friend and Wye Mun's daughter * Lisa Lu as Shang Su Yi, Nick's grandmother and the matriarch of the family * Ken Jeong as Goh Wye Mun, Peik Lin's wealthy father * Michelle Yeoh as Eleanor Sung-Young, Nick's domineering mother and Phillip's wife * Nico Santos as Oliver T'sien, Nick's second cousin * Ronny Chieng as Eddie Cheng, Nick's cousin and Fiona's husband * Victoria Loke as Fiona Tung-Cheng, Eddie's wife from Hong Kong and Nick's cousin-in-law * Remy Hii as Alistair Cheng, Eddie's brother and Nick and Astrid's cousin from Hong Kong * Selena Tan as Alexandra 'Alix' Young-Cheng, Su Yi's youngest child * Janice Koh as Felicity Young-Leong, Astrid's mother and Su Yi's eldest child * Tan Kheng Hua as Kerry Chu, Rachel's mother * Koh Chieng Mun as Peik Lin's mother, Neena * Chris Pang as Colin Khoo, Nick's childhood best friend and Araminta's fiancé * Sonoya Mizuno as Araminta Lee, Colin's fiancée * Jimmy O. Yang as Bernard Tai, Carol's son and Nick and Colin's former classmate * Jing Lusi as Amanda "Mandy" Ling, New York socialite and Nick's former girlfriend * Pierre Png as Michael Teo, Astrid's husband * Fiona Xie as Kitty Pong, Alistair's girlfriend and Hong Kong "soap opera" star * Amy Cheng as Jacqueline Ling, Mandy's heiress mother * Kris Aquino as Princess Intan, a Malay princess * Carmen Soo as Francesca * Harry Shum Jr. as Charlie Wu, Astrid's ex-fiancé Production Kevin Kwan published his comedic novel Crazy Rich Asians on June 11, 2013. In August 2014, producer Nina Jacobson acquired rights to adapt the novel into a film. Jacobson and her partner Brad Simpson intended to produce under their production banner Color Force with Bryan Unkeless developing the project. Their goal was to produce the film adaptation outside the studio system and to structure financing for development and production from Asia and other territories outside the United States. In 2014, the US-based Asian film investment group Ivanhoe Pictures partnered with Jacobson to finance and produce Crazy Rich Asians. Director Jon M. Chu entered negotiations with Color Force and Ivanhoe Pictures in May 2016 to direct the film adaptation. He was hired as director after giving executives a visual presentation about his experience as a first-generation Asian-American. Screenwriters Adele Lim and Peter Chiarelli wrote the screenplay. In the following October, Warner Bros. Pictures acquired the project after what Variety called a "heated" bidding war. Netflix reportedly fervently sought worldwide rights to the project, offering "artistic freedom, a greenlighted trilogy and huge, seven-figure-minimum paydays for each stakeholder, upfront." However, Chu and company wanted a wide theatrical release. The film stars Constance Wu as the lead Rachel Chu, while newcomer Henry Golding was cast to play the male lead Nick Young. Michelle Yeoh also co-stars as Eleanor Young, Nick's mother. Rounding out the supporting cast is Gemma Chan as Nick's cousin Astrid Leong and Sonoya Mizuno as Araminta Lee. Production was slated to begin in April 2017 in Singapore and Malaysia. On April 18, 2017, Filipina actress Kris Aquino was cast in a cameo role. On May 12, it was announced that Ken Jeong had joined the cast. Principal photography began on April 24, 2017. The film was shot on location in Kuala Lumpur and Penang, Malaysia and in Singapore. Release Crazy Rich Asians was released in theaters on August 15, 2018, after previously being stated to be released on August 17. The film premiered on August 7, 2018 at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. Prior to the release there was a social media use of #GoldOpen to bring attention to the release. Reception Box office Three weeks prior to its the United States and Canada release, Crazy Rich Asians was projected to gross $18–20 million over its five-day opening weekend. By the week of its release, estimates had reached $26–30 million, with Fandango reporting pre-sale tickets were outpacing Girls Trip (which debuted to $31.2 million in July 2017). The film held special advance screenings on August 8, 2018 and made an estimated $450–500,000, selling out most of its 354 theaters. It then grossed $5 million on its first day and $3.8 on its second. It went on to gross $25.2 million in its opening weekend for a five-day total of $34 million, finishing first at the box office. 38% of its audience was Asian, which was the highest makeup for a film in the previous three years (besting The Foreigner s 18.4% in 2017). Critical response On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 92% based on 144 reviews, with an average rating of 7.6/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "With a terrific cast and a surfeit of visual razzle dazzle, Crazy Rich Asians takes a satisfying step forward for screen representation while deftly drawing inspiration from the classic -- and still effective -- rom-com formula." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 74 out of 100, based on 46 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it an 85% positive score and a 65% "definite recommend". Criticism The film's casting has been met with both praise—in the U.S. for its all-Asian cast—and received criticism for its ethnic diversity and lack thereof—ranging from criticism towards non-Chinese actors (Golding and Mizuno) playing Chinese roles, to criticism towards the film's ethnic Chinese and East Asian predominance as being poorly representative of Singapore and as being a perpetuation of existing Chinese dominance in its media and pop culture. Non-Chinese multiracial actors Some criticized the casting of biracial actor Henry Golding, who is of Malaysian Iban and English descent, as the Chinese Singaporean Nick Young. Korean American actress Jamie Chung, who had auditioned for a role but was turned down for allegedly not being "ethnically Chinese", responded to a question about Golding's casting with "That is some bullshit. Where do you draw the line to be ethnically conscious? But there's so many loopholes..." in an interview published on April 24, 2017. Chung's remarks were met with backlash on social media, with some accusing her of being bigoted against Eurasians, while another felt her comments were hypocritical as she had previously played Mulan, an ethnic Chinese character, in the television series Once Upon a Time. Chung apologized for her comments on April 28, and again to Golding in a Twitter exchange on December 2. John Lui, an ethnic Chinese Singaporean reporter of The Straits Times, criticized the casting including that of costar Sonoya Mizuno, who is of Japanese, British and Argentinian descent: }} Golding weighed in on the controversy, calling it "quite hurtful," explaining: }} Golding's costar Awkwafina also defended the casting, stating: }} Sociologist and author Nancy Wang Yuen stated that criticisms of the movie’s casting point to deeper issues of racial purity. By deeming Golding "not Asian enough", the detractors were choosing to ignore his Asian heritage. Yuen contrasted Golding's situation to the public perception of former U.S. President Barack Obama, who is also biracial. She noted that "the world sees President Obama as black, but his mother is white...[standard|[it's contradictory]] to erase Golding's Asian ancestry while obliterating Obama's white ancestry." Representation and Chinese predominance In stark contrast to those demanding Chinese or East Asian actors fill its roles, others, particularly those in Asian countries, expressed disappointment in the film's lack of ethnic South and Southeast Asians, who are prominent in Singapore. Kirsten Han, a Singaporean freelance writer, said that it "obscured the Malay, Indian, and Eurasian (and more) populations who make the country the culturally rich and unique place that it is." Many were critical towards the omission of the country's Malays and Indians—the second and third largest ethnic groups in the country, respectively—thus not representing Singapore's multiracial population accurately. As Han points out: Ian Chong, a political scientist at the National University of Singapore, noted "It represents the worst of Singapore. Erases minorities. Erases the poor and marginalized. All you get are rich, privileged ethnic Chinese." Alfian Sa'at, a Malay Singaporean poet and playwright, commented on the film's title referring to it as "Crazy Rich EAST Asians", further adding "Does a win for representation mean replacing white people with white people wannabes?" Referring to Kwan's book, one commenter noted "The book is aware of its lack of minority representation and actually alludes to the closed minded attitude of some social circles in Singapore. One of the family members got disowned for marrying a Malay." Some commenters criticized the film's use of British and American English over that of Singlish. Possible sequel Prior to the film's release, Chu said he would be eager to return to direct a sequel if the first film was a success and added: "We have lots of plans if the audience shows up. We have more stories to tell. We have other stories outside of the Crazy Rich Asians world that are ready to be told too from filmmakers and storytellers who haven't had their stories told yet." See also * Chinese in New York City * Overseas Chinese * Singaporean Chinese References External links * Official website * * * Category:2018 films Category:2010s romantic comedy films Category:American romantic comedy films Category:Asian-American films Category:Chinese-American films Category:English-language films Category:Films based on American novels Category:Films based on romance novels Category:Films based on Singaporean novels Category:Films directed by Jon M. Chu Category:Film scores by Brian Tyler Category:Films set in Malaysia Category:Films set in Singapore Category:Films shot in Malaysia Category:Films shot in Singapore Category:Romantic comedy films Category:Warner Bros. films Category:Film scores by Chris Forsgren